1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a camera, and more particularly, to a camera using a cartridge-type film patrone.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of cameras using cartridge-type film patrones have been suggested heretofore. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-1624 discloses a camera having a housing hole portion in which a film patrone with the whole film housed therein is loaded and a housing cover for covering a film patrone load opening of the housing hole portion, and an eject mechanism in the camera for moving the film patrone to a position, where the film patrone can be readily taken out, in correlation to the opening and closing movements of the housing cover.
Furthermore, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 43-11025 discloses a camera in which a roller for detecting the surface of a film serves to unlock a rewind knob for opening and closing a rear cover, and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 43-31735 discloses a camera in which the detection of the end of a film links to the unlocking of a rear cover. Such mechanism for unlocking the rear cover in response to the detection of the film is well known.
Still furthermore, a camera in which a film patrone is ejected by being directly pushed up by a spring and a camera in which a cartridge housing case is moved by releasing the ejection lock are respectively suggested in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications Nos. 4-215634 and 3-261931.
However, in the above mentioned camera disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-1624, another action of opening the housing cover by hand is required in order to take out the film patrone. Such troublesome operation hinders rapid changing of film patrones.
Since the camera described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 4-215634 has a structure so as to slide the cover, space for housing the cover is needed and it is hard to make the camera compact. Furthermore, the cover slides only toward the center of the camera to be opened, and therefore, there is a small degree of freedom in designing the camera. In addition, since no lock mechanism is mounted, it is feared that an exposed film will be further exposed to light by inadvertently opening the cover during picture taking.
Still furthermore, since the film patrone is itself not ejected in the camera disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 3-261931, it is necessary to set a proper eject angle of the case or to form slots to be pinched by fingers in order to easily remove the film patrone. This places a strong constraint on the design of the camera.